Self-study
P1
One of the intriguing questions considered by anthropologists concerns the purpose our early ancestors had in first creating images of the world around them. █████ █████ ██████ ███ ███████████████ ████ █████████ ████ ██ ███ █████████████ █ ██████ ███ ██████████ ███ ████████████ ██ ██████ ███ ███ ████████ ███ ████████ █████ ████████ ██ ████████████████ ████ ███
Phenomenon ·
Aurignacian cave paintings
Question: What was the purpose of the cave paintings?
OP Hypothesis 1 ·
It was art; it was luxury meant for enjoyment
Evidence: paintings are astonishingly well-executed; suggests creators were professional artists; suggests that Aurignacian culture was wealthy enough to support an artistic class.
P2
██████████ ████████ ███ █████████ ████ ███████ ██████ ██ █████ ██████████ ████ ████ ███████ ██████ ███ ██████████ █████████████ ██ ███████ ██████ ████ █████ ██ ████████ ████ █████ ████████████████ ████ █████████ █████ ██████ ███ ██ █ ████ ██ ██████ ██ █████ ██ ██████████████ █████████ █████████ ████ ███ ████ ███████ ██ ███ ██████████ ████ █████ ██████████ ████ ████ ███████ █████ ████ █████ ████ ████ ██████ ████ ███ ████████████
Counter Evidence ·
Paintings' location too inconvenient if purpose was truly for aesthetic enjoyment
If it really was for aesthetic enjoyment, why hide the paintings deep in hard to get to caves? Doesn't make sense.
P3
█████ ████ ███ ████████████ ████ ████████████████ ███ ███ ██ ████ ████ ███ █████████ ████████ ██ ██████████ █ ██████ ████ █ █████████ ████████████ ████ ███████████████ ███████████ ████ ███ █████████ ████ ████ ████████ ██ ███████ █ █████ ██ ████████ █ ██████ ██████ ██ █████ ███
OP Hypothesis 2 ·
It was religious; intended to secure prey for hunting
Argument for Hypothesis 2 ·
Superstitious beliefs were common; paintings outline vital organs in red; evidence of ceremonies around the paintings
Passage Style
Critique or debate
Phenomenon-hypothesis (RC)
5.
The passage suggests that the ██████ █████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ █████ ████ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ██████ █████ ███ █████████████
a
They were technologically ██ ████ ████████ ████ ███ ████████████ ████ ███████████
Not supported. The author never compares the technology levels of Neanderthals and Aurignacians.
b
They were the █████ ██████ █████ ██ ████ ████ ████████ ███ ██████████ █████████
Not supported. Although we know that there’s evidence Aurignacian shamans wore costumes, we have no evidence they were the “first” humans known to have done so.
c
They had established ████ ██████ ███████████ ██████ ██████
Supported by these
d
They occupied a ████ ███████ ███████████ ████ ███ ████████████ ████
Not supported. There’s no comparison of the level of hostility in the environments of Neanderthals and Aurignacians. Although Aurignacians might have had a “more secure life” than Neanderthals, this doesn’t imply that the environment was less hostile. The Aurignacians may simply have had better ways to deal with an equally hostile environment.
e
They carved images ██ █████ ████████ ████ ██ █████ ███████ ██ ████████ ███ ████████ █████████
Not supported. There’s no evidence the Aurignacians carved anything on their weapons. P3 refers to paintings of animals and lines representing arrows, but we have no reason to think these images are carved on weapons.